Help me pick a leader

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Being a DM for a group that includes an eladrin tactical warlord, I highly recommend it - its the class that makes the defender feel like a striker, and that uses its actions to make the other characters do cool things, or put them into a position to do cool things. As much as possible, you want to be using your actions to do things that let your nephews win the battle, and nobody is better at doing that than the tac warlod. And using an eladrin, you are one feat away from having the same healing as other warlords - your still no cleric, but you enable the party in ways that a cleric doesn't.

I would go longsword rather than a bow - as stated, with a small all melee party with one character that is depending on flanking to do his job, you want to be next to the enemy so as to give him flanking, and by going longsword you can still have a shield so that you AC is competive. Being up close is even more important given that the fighter has a reach weapon, I may not be in there as a flank buddy for the rogue.

The companion character rules are a good idea, but you don't want to sacrifice things that make the party shine. Really, its not your basic attack that are important - its your at-wills and abilities that boost the boys' capacity to lay the beat down on the enemy. That said, properly designed, you should be able to get a companion character warlord that runs like a simplified PC warlord.

 

[Garthanos]

Oh, you are. For many other reasons. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise!

Thanks! what a relief... that mixed lefty-righty hemisphere degree in Comp Sci minoring in Art and Physics and nearly Philosophy helps.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Just make sure your guy is not a DMPC, and takes no time at all to run.

 

[DEFCON 1]

My nephew playing the Dragonborn Fighter chose the glaive as his weapon, so he'll have quite a bit of advantage in positioning. Would a melee leader be best to help him herd enemies?

If your nephew's fighter took the glaive... then I would in no way recommend running a ranged warlord. Your rogue character would be doubly screwed if you did, because he would now have both of his other party members not attacking monsters adjacent, and thus his chance of ever getting into flank would be close to nil. Unless you just handwave the 'combat advantage' rule altogether and let him add in his Sneak Attack bonus once per round automatically... your rogue is going to be bitterly disappointed with how infrequently he gets to Sneak Attack. I think with this party make-up, your leader has to be melee-based just to let your rogue player shine at all.

The main reason why you'd possibly go with a ranged leader character would be to cut down on the number of attacks he would attract, thereby keeping him on his feet longer and thus have the healing more readily available. However, as you are DMing for them... you can easily just tailor the encounters and run the monsters such that even if your warlord NPC is in melee... they just don't swarm him and try and take him out. They focus mainly on your nephews, with just one or two occasionally going after your warlord.

The most important thing here is that you want to go with whatever character has the best chance of doing what is most critical, which is making your nephews look good. And that means assisting your rogue by having him get combat advantage as often as he can, and letting your fighter attack as often as possible. Thus, the more I think about it... the more I believe that a taclord is really your only good choice. Commander's Strike, Wolf Pack Tactics, and a Lead The Attack on the big bad each day are the best opportunities to help your nephews get into the best position to be most successful. And that's really all what your third DM-run character should be about.

 

[phil500]

wis/cha cleric with astral seal and sacred flame. easy to play, nothing too hard to track.

astral will heal for 6 fairly easily, and thats a surge for level 1 chars. also effectively gives them +2 to attack, so they will feel LEET and not realize it is your char that is uber.

sacred will give temp hps, or help them save from an effect thats frustrating them.

might make it too boring though- near wipes are fun.

 

[jbear]

Another vote here for the melee warlord focused on giving them more attacks.

The only thing I have ever seen as a downside to a Warlord, is that you have to be an especially generous player to run one, basically because they make everyone else cooler, but don't get much of the glory themselves. Running it as a DM you won't have this egotistical dilema. Not only that, but they'll be kept involved in the game when it's not their turn.

If your fighter is going with a reach weapon he's going to need the feat 'Polearm Flanker' ... otherwise your rogue is going to be a sad chappy. I'm not entirely familiar with warlord powers off by heart, but anythng that aids your rogue to achieve flanking will make him more effective... without CAdv a rogue can get pretty miserable dishing out d4 dagger damage...

Others have suggested a companion character as opposed to a fully fledged DM run PC... which might be a good idea if the group was bigger... but with only 2 players... it's going to be tricky enough balancing your encounters to the appropriate level as it is.

Here is an idea... what if each PC had an animal companion? Let's say a pet wolf, yeah, classic! You could scale a Gray Wolf down to level 1 and let them run one each. This would make the rogue very happy... heck, as Halfling he could even ride his!!! They synergise very well with the rogues need to flank, and simple enough with just a bite attack that benefits from flanking or against prone characters. Fighters have loads of ways to knock things down as well!

This would give your warlord the chance to remain more aloof, avoid damage and focus on healing the lads. Or even just run a companion healer yourself, which will make your life easier in general thanks to its simplicity.

Anyway, just an idea. I hope you and the kids have a blast!

 

[The Human Target]

Yeah I'll add in some sort of dwarven cleric, either laser or melee.

Not only will it be mechanically useful, it'll be fun.

And if you have a niece you can make her play an eladrin wizard.